Licence now allows unlimited personal use

Many of our users have been very happy to discover that now we allow unlimited installs of The Novel Factory for personal use.

New mystery and romance templates added

The latest version added several new templates to the story templates available in the software, to broaden the genres covered. We'll continue to add new genre templates and improve the existing ones as we go on - so let us know if you have a particular request!

Highlighting added

You can now highlight text in yellow or the colour of your choice.

Random Character Generation

Need a quick supporting character and don't have time to come up with a name, age and basic physical description? Just click 'generate character' and away you go!

New image viewer

We've updated the image viewer to allow images to stay open while you continue to work on your novel.

We're working on loads of new exciting updates right now, which will be free to all our existing users - so watch this space!

On the one hand writing is something you usually do alone, but the whole point is for the result to be enjoyed by other people.

Many writers love nothing more than to squirrel themselves
away in their broom closet, or whatever other space they’ve managed to protect
for themselves away from the demands of family and work, but an isolated writer
is like a plant without water.

In my experience, most new writers are very reluctant to
join a writing critique group, which I believe is borne of fear.

Fear of
rejection, fear of failure, fear of exposure. But I believe it’s really
important for writers to overcome this fear if they are ever going to grow into
professional, saleable authors.

So, here are my five reasons you absolutely have to join a
writing group

Invaluable critique

The number one reason I go to a writers’ group is for
critique. It’s impossible to see the flaws in your own writing, so you need
others to point them out to you. Friends and family are notoriously rubbish at
this, whereas other writers will have the skills that can identify weaknesses
and areas for improvement that can take your writing to the next level.

Going to a group means that you will get a range of
opinions, which will often be conflicting, which in itsellf is extra useful for assessing
what in the critiquers comments if their personal peeve and what is a definite
issue with your writing.

For example, if half the group tell you to cut the
last line and the other half tell you it’s their favourite part, then you need
to use your own judgement. However, if they unanimously tell you your
punctuation sucks, it’s time to buy a grammar book.

Learn from other writers

There’s a hallowed old saying: If you want to be a writer,
read.

By joining a writing group you will read the work of other
aspiring writers, and by analysing their work you will learn more about what
works and what doesn’t.

Get a motivation boost

It’s a common outcome of spending a few hours in the company
of other writers that you’ll come out raring to rush home and back to the
keyboard.

Being with other writers, talking about writing, sharing writing
experiences, it all serves to bring up feelings of excitement and enthusiasm
and get the blood flowing.

Also, another writer's ideas may send you off on a tangent you didn't expect, or you may read someone's piece and think: "I could do better than that..." and be spurred on to writing for competitive ends.

Move out of your comfort zone

I mentioned above that the main reason people avoid writing
critique groups is fear.

When you’re just starting out it takes a pretty thick skin
to bounce back from all the inevitable rejection letters. The more impersonal they are, the more personal it feels.

And if you persevere long enough to actually become
published, then the negative reviews will start coming through – and don’t think
you’ll be exempt - from Rowling to King to Shakespeare, there will always be someone who hates what you do.

So it’s wise to start building up that resilience nice and
early, as well as learning that sometimes the negative comments are the most
valuable ones for learning.

Soak up the support and encouragement

Despite the point above, good writers’ critique groups are
not snake pits at all. They are filled with kind, sensitive people (and a
handful of loonies... you know who you are) who will give you support and
encouragement – essential when you’re dealing with all those rejection letters
I mentioned earlier.

I have made some of my best friends in my writing group and
have been boosted into believing in myself again when the doubts started to gather
on the horizon.

So, if you’re not already going to a writing critique group,
get out there!

Realistic goals can be critical in helping you achieve
success, and this is particularly so when it comes to writing.

A novel is such a large, nebulous beast, it can be daunting
to look at it head on and might seem like an unmanageable task.

By breaking it down into manageable chunks, you can see your
progress and know if you’re on track or if you’re falling behind.

The Novel Factory statistics help you set targets and then
display your progress visually to keep you informed and motivated.

Here’s how to use the stats:

First, note that you can have statistics for each of the
three drafts of your novel – the set of statistics that you’re looking at is indicated
by the toggleable radio buttons at the top.

In order to activate the statistics, you need to first enter
a target for your estimated number of words and a target finish date.

Target Daily Word Count

Once you’ve entered these numbers, The Novel Factory will
calculate how many words you need to write on average each day to achieve your
goal – the Target Daily Word Count.

This is a useful number to know, because it will tell you if
your target finish date is realistic or not.

Only you will know how many words you can write per day. If
you are lucky enough to be able to write full time, then perhaps 2,000 words
upwards is achievable. However, if you’re fitting in your novelling around full
time work, family and other hobbies, then perhaps a number closer to 200 - 500
per day is reasonable.

It’s better to have realistic, achievable goals than to be
over ambitious and then become disheartened when you get left behind.

Note that this number will update itself depending on how
many words you have left to write.

Current Word Count

This is how may words in total you have written for that
draft of your novel.

Record Daily Word Count

This tells you the highest number of words you’ve ever written
in one day. Can you keep beating your own personal best?

Average Daily Word Count

As you’d expect, this tells you how many words you’ve
written on average per day in that draft since you started.

Today’s Word Count

Pretty self-explanatory, this is the number of words you’ve
written today. You can use this to see how much more to need to write in order
to meet your target.

Viewing your Novel Statistics

You can see how you’re doing in a number of ways.

The Head, Tail and Incident breakdown gives a sense of the
balance of conflict in your novel. Your story should have a balance of high and
low conflict scenes (Head Scenes are high conflict scenes, Tails and Incidents are low conflict scenes - see the Novel Factory Roadmap for more detail on this), though you may lean this balance one way or the other.

The Progress Pie Chart shows you how far you’ve progressed
towards completing that draft, with still-to-do in blue and completed progress
in red.

The Daily Average Speedometer shows you the rate at which you’re
writing. Try to keep the needle in the green.

The Novel Breakdown shows you how balanced your scenes lengths
are. You don’t want all your scenes to be the same length, but if you have one
scene which is significantly out of the typical trend, it may be worth seeing
if it needs to be broken down or assimilated into another scene.

The Progress over Time is my favourite graph. The flat blue
line shows your progress target, and as you write, a wriggling red line will appear
on top of it to show how you’re actually doing.

If you have any questions about the Novel Factory statistics, or any requests for additional statistics for us to work on - let us know in the comments below.

It’s often said that people (or more importantly, literary
agents) will stop reading your book if you haven’t hooked them within the first
sentence.

I suspect that this is probably a little pessimistic, but it’s
true that given the intensely competitive nature of getting published in
fiction, starting strong is critically important.

But the opening scene has another important role, as well as
hooking a reader. You need to set up the ending.

“What?” I hear you cry. “That’s all backwards! I’m going to
work up to my ending.”

Well, yes. But also, no. A satisfying climax cannot just come out of the blue.
Everything has to be foreshadowed, and a truly elegant novel will have given
you all the clues right at the outset.

All satisfying stories are in essence about how a character
changes (feel free to disagree with me about this statement in the comments). I
like to define this change in terms of what a character wants, and what they need. Read more about this 'character journey' here.

What a character wants
tends to be external – such as money, a particular partner, a job, etc. What a
character needs is about personal fulfilment,
and is usually some form of compassion or courage.

In the final climax, your character should be faced with a
difficult challenge, where they must choose between finally getting what they’ve
wanted all along, or sacrificing that in order to be who they need to be – and in
doing so, realising what they actually needed all along.

In order to give this climax impact, the opening scene
should foreshadow the entire thing. That means you need to introduce your
protagonist and establish what they want and what they need.

Then there should be some kind of challenge – this may or
may not be the inciting incident (or call to action) to which they make the
wrong decision – i.e. their response is fully motivated by what they want.

This (usually selfish) decision then leads to a cascade of
mishaps and challenges which they spend the rest of the book dealing with,
until finally, at the end… well, we’ve already been through this.

Take another look at your opening scene from this perspective and you may find you're able to strengthen it by ensuring these elements are there.

Finding it was my ‘rays of sunshine coming through the
clouds’ moment.

After quite a while of just writing randomly, I felt that
there must be some rules of thumb that could be used to ensure a story flowed,
evolved and climaxed in a decent way – so I was overjoyed when I discovered it.

Quick aside - If you don’t know what the Hero’s Journey is – it’s a series
of steps that the vast majority of satisfying stories go through, from
introducing the protagonist’s world, through calling them to action, testing
them, meeting with a mentor, through to final confrontation with the big bad. Read about this 'Universal Storyline' in more detail here.

It wasn’t so much invented as discovered, by Joseph Campbell
as he researched the earliest stories ever passed down by word of mouth to
modern stories. Most of the elements of the Hero’s Journey can be seen in the
vast majority of bestselling novels and blockbuster movies.

However, I often come across an issue when gushing with
excitement about the Hero’s Journey, and that is that people’s perception still
seems to be heavily influenced by the word ‘Hero’ and to a lesser extent
‘Journey’.

These words make people feel that it only applies to fantasy
adventure stories where there’s going to be a swashbuckler slaying dragons with
a sword.

But of course this couldn’t be further from the truth. This
set of stages can be applied to all genres, including romance, historical
fiction, war, crime drama, etc etc .

I recently came across the utterly awesome blog of Allen
Palmer – Cracking Yarns – where he has come up with an interesting way to try
to ‘dispel notions that this amazing paradigm doesn’t apply to female
protagonists, intimate dramas or romantic comedies.’

Allen has come up with a ‘Character Driven Hero’s
Journey’. This avoids a lot of the mythological vocabulary and also helps focus on the fact that while plot is of course
important, it is transformation of character that moves us.

Here are the steps, with very brief descriptions:

Incomplete

Maps to –
introduction to the hero’s world

The protagonist is unfulfilled in their normal life. There
will be two things missing – one thing that they think they want (like money,
fame, a Porsche – you get the idea) and another thing which they haven’t
thought of, but is the real thing that will give them fulfilment. (compassion,
self confidence, etc).

Unsettled

Maps to – Call to
Adventure

The protagonist’s world becomes unsettled by an outside
force. An invitation, threat or attack, perhaps.

Resistant

Maps to – Refusal of
the call

The protagonist refuses to do the right thing. They are
afraid, selfish or just have different priorities.

Encouraged

Maps to – Meeting the
Mentor

The protagonist gets advice from someone. This meeting
should push them on their way, but the advice isn’t necessarily good or the
giver helpful – it may be an ultimatum or a challenge.

Committed

Maps to – Crossing
the Threshold

Now the main character gets pro-active and does something
about that thing that unsettled them. Ideally they should take some action that
makes it impossible to go back to how they were in the first scene – some
burning of bridges.

Disorientated

Maps to – Tests

Now the whole world is different as they try to navigate
towards their goal and face unfamiliar challenges and new rules. They will
probably fail several times at this stage.

Inauthentic

Maps to – The
Approach

The protagonist is confronted with their flaw, but they
refuse to address it.

Confronted

Maps to – The Ordeal

This is a slap in the face for the protagonist where they
finally realise they have to face their flaw and do something about it or lose
everything that is worth having.

Reborn

Maps to – The Reward

The lead character demonstrates that they are a changed
person.

Desperate

Maps to – The Road
Back

Remember right back at the beginning when we said that the
character has two things missing from their life – the thing they want and the
thing they need? Right here is where you make them face a choice between the
two.

Decisive

Maps to –
Resurrection

This is the climax of the story, where the protagonist must
actively make their decision. They don’t have to choose right, but the
consequences of their choice must be poetic.

Complete

Maps to – Return Home

The protagonist gets what they deserve. In the vast
majority of cases, they will have correctly chosen what they need and will now
be fulfilled in themselves.

I don’t mean go all George R R Martin and kill them outright.
I mean that you should make an effort to put your characters into situations
that seem impossible to escape from – and then watch how they ingeniously do escape.

We are all so used to fiction now, and the standard of good
triumphing over evil, that it takes some doing for a fiction writer to actually
make us feel like the character is in genuine danger. Even when the hero is
suspended over a pit of snakes, we still know they will get out – the interest
comes in finding out how.

Ideally, you’ll make people really genuinely feel there is
no escape for your character, whether it be a pit of snakes, an overbearing
spouse or a mental illness. You should think long and hard about what sort of
situations you can put your character into which will have them stuck and
stumped.

I think it’s best that you personally don’t know the answer
when you first come up with these situations – that will make them feel more
genuine.

Take five minutes to try to come up with five situations
that appear to be impossible to escape. Here are a few to get you started:

Jemima has been captured by her arch nemesis and
trapped in a coffin (nailed shut, naturally), which is wrapped in iron chains
and is on a conveyor belt heading towards a cremation furnace.

Victor is trapped in a dead end job. He has huge
debts to pay off, no qualifications and estranged from his family.

Francis has been wrongly accused of child abuse.
All her friends have turned against her and the authorities won’t listen to
anything she says. She’s been fired from her job and her husband has left her
and taken her children.

Once you’ve got a handful of those sorted, spend a little
more time coming up with the solutions. Try not to make too much use of outside
help – the character needs to solve the issue under their own steam.

Or, if you are too lazy to come up with your own, try to
come up with solutions for the scenarios detailed above. Make sure you do yours
before reading mine, below.

Here are my ideas:

The coffin is wood, so as it nears the fire, the
wood begins to warp and burn. She squeezes herself against the far end as far
as possible, and when enough of the coffin is burning, she kicks through and
escapes.

Victor’s dead end job is selling holidays. One
day a man comes in just his age but clearly much happier and more successful,
who explains he has no money, but he just roams the world. Victor packs
everything in and buys his own holiday with his last paycheck and sets off with
just a suitcase of things. While in Thailand he discovers an aromatic incense
that induces deep calm. He brings some back home with him and starts his own
business selling it, which is a great success.

Francis scours through the testimony of the
child and manages to find some details which prove that they are making it up.
She also researches child psychology and finds evidence that parents plant and
enhance the concepts tentatively suggested by children. At the final court
hearing the child who accused her breaks down in tears saying it was only meant
to be a joke and he is really sorry. The judge rules in her favour.

Here are a bunch of quick ideas to help you beat that creativity killer –
writer’s block…

Take a walk

Much more effective than you might think. It's not simply
about a time out. Fresh air invigorates your brain and the muscle movement
releases chemicals into the bloodstream. Also, new visual stimulus will get
your synapses crackling.

Freewriting

For ten minutes write non-stop… anything at all. Seriously,
anything. Even if it's just the same word over and over and over again.
Misspellings, sense, we care not for these things!

Work on some notes instead

Less pressure, fun, and a good chance it will kick start
some prose writing.

Listen to some music

Engage another part of your brain to kickstart creativity.

Make a pointless rule and write to it

Such as: you can't use the letter e more than once per
sentence or each sentence must have an even number of words. Limits create
focus and change your perspective.

Read the papers

Great for ideas that nobody will ever believe are true.

Write a rant

Who really got up your nose this week? What would you say to
them if you could? Get those juices flowing, let the emotion pour out onto the
paper.

Explain your dilemma to a teddy bear

If you can't think how to proceed, explain your problem to a
soft toy. The process of formulating the problem out loud is often enough to
let you see the solution.

Create a strict schedule

With short periods dedicated to writing. For example, write
for ten minutes, then water the plants, then write for fifteen minutes, then
hang the laundry, then write for ten minutes, then do the dishes. Stick to it.
That means when it says to stop as well, even if you're in a flow. Having very
short time periods can help you focus and stop you thinking you’re going to
write a whole novel at one sitting.

Don't obsess when you're drafting

Are you in a draft stage and worrying about word and
sentence level? What on earth for? Haven't you heard of editing? Just get it
down any old how and the polishing will come later.

The 20/5 technique

Get yourself an egg timer, set it for twenty minutes, put it
on the table and get as much done as you can in that time. When it goes off,
your fingers must leave the keyword (or paper and quill or whatever). Set it
for five minutes and do something else for that time. Relieve yourself, stare
out the window, play with the puppy, learn a few words of Spanish, whatever.
Then repeat.

Set a small, achievable goal

Finishing the novel is not going to cut it. Finishing the
paragraph, the page, or at most the first draft of the chapter, is a fine
catalyst.

There’s nothing quite so gutting about wasting weeks, months and even years writing your novel only to find out that it has major plot issues.

Below are the five elements I’ve found most critical when it comes to creating a stonking plot that gives your readers the excitement and satisfaction they crave.

Start with a good premise

Premise, logline, backbone, kernel, elevator pitch… Whatever you want to call it, this is a single line which sums up the absolute core question and thrust of your novel. It should include five elements: character, situation, objective, opponent and disaster.

It should set out who the protagonist is, what they want, what’s stopping them and what disaster they need to avoid. It also helps to offer some sense of setting.

This premise is your anchor, to ensure your novel is coherent and starts on a solid footing.

Define your character’s flaw

The most popular stories follow a flawed character who redeems themselves.

They should be able to take the right action in the final scene that they would not have been capable of in the first scene. Allen Palmer of Cracking Yarns suggests that the two character flaws that offer the most reader satisfaction when overcome, are a lack of courage and a lack of compassion. I’m not saying you have to use one of those, I’m just mentioning it.

Follow the timeless mythology stages

It has been shown fairly comprehensively that the vast majority of popular stories follow some or all of a series of stages. You certainly don’t have to follow these steps to the letter, but if you’re struggling to understand why your plot isn’t working, it may be worth seeing if adding in some of these stages might help:

· Meet the protagonist in their natural state (don’t forget to demonstrate their flaw!)

· The protagonist’s world is disrupted by a threat or opportunity

· The protagonist expresses reluctance to respond to the threat or opportunity (or some other character voices the dangers)

· The protagonist takes decisive action with regard to the threat or opportunity (preferably burning some bridges so they can’t turn back)

· The protagonist is tested, either physically, emotionally or mentally

· The protagonist learns from others – though the others don’t necessarily need to be intentionally helpful or positive

· The protagonist should hit rock bottom, where they suffer terrible setbacks and lose something they hold dear

· The protagonist bounces back with renewed vigour to face the final conflict

· The protagonist returns home triumphant

Give your protagonist an impossible choice

It’s no good to just have a sword or word fight at the end of the novel and the strongest / smartest one wins, even if the protagonist was a weakling / shy guy to begin with.

If you really want to have the audience on the edge of their seats, you need to offer them a nail biting moment where the protagonist is offered a choice that will define their character and prove that they have grown as a person.

The choice should have these two sides:

a) They get what they ‘want’ (the boy, the job, the treasure) but other people, probably those they love will be forced to suffer
b) They can help the other people (again probably those they love), but they will lose what it is they want and probably much more

Because this is fiction and not real life, how they act will result in righteous consequences…

Don’t give your protagonist what they wanted – give them what they needed

If your protagonist chooses to do the ‘right’ thing, in other words they abandon their personal selfish desires in order to serve the greater good, then something else must happen which swings the situation in their favour and results in them getting something else which is much better than what they thought they wanted – and is actually what they need.

For example, a boy might really fancy the top cheerleader, but at the end of the story he makes a good moral choice and instead ends up with the geeky girl, who is his true soulmate and brings him much greater happiness.

Or, an archaeologist might be chasing a special artefact, but after her moral decision to give it to its rightful owners instead of having it to study herself, she is inducted into the secretive tribe to study their lives.

Of course, your protagonist doesn’t have to make the moral choice – thought of course that’s what happens 99% of the time. If you want them to make the ‘wrong’ choice, that’s fine, but then you must follow through the consequences.

As soon as they have their prize in their greedy little hands it should turn to dust, and their selfish behaviour means they are all alone.

So, on that cheerful note – what are your top secrets that help you ensure your plot holds all the keys?

Learn to describe the world around your characters with
skill and you will add layers of depth to your story. You won't have to rely on
the amateur’s method of 'telling' to get across how your character is feeling
and thinking about everything, because it will be evident from your rich
descriptions.

Reflect the mood

So don't just describe your surroundings for what they are,
stuff them with propaganda.

A country garden can be cast as cheerful and airy or
sinister and dark, depending on what your character is going through and their
mood.

Be specific and use evocative words - Don't just say there
was a bird call. Was it a cheerful greeting or a shrill warning? Don't just say
the woods were dark, were they speckled with cool, relieving shade or dense
with heavy shadow?

will see things through their
world view – or as I like to put it: to a man with a hammer, everything looks
like an nail. For example, if your main character is an accountant, they might
view a fight in terms of how much the damage will cost. A Hell's Angel will
think it's funny, and a little girl will see the same fight as giants tearing
each other apart and have nightmares about it for months. It's not just a
fight, it's a hundred things to a hundred people. Be sure you know who your
person is.

Use the five senses

Don't worry about prose for a minute, just make list. In
each situation, what can your character:

See

Smell

Taste

Touch

Hear

Once you have these things you can either knit them together
into a single descriptive paragraph to set the scene, or sprinkle them
throughout the scene.

Use a picture

Tells a thousand words and all that. Thank whoever it is you
might thank for these things that you are lucky enough to live in an era where
millions and millions of images are available for you to browse at a moment's
notice on the Internet. Centuries of pictures at your fingertips. Moments of
history captured by the deft fingers of expert photographers, the essence of
great leaders echoed in the brushstrokes of master painters, grand landscapes
portrayed in breathtaking art, and crappy photo snaps of cringeworthy chavs.
It's all there.

And life is always a
thousand times richer than anything you can imagine, so take advantage of it.
If you need to describe a rainy cobbled street in ancient Japan, hunt for a
photo that is the closest approximation. Sometimes you might need several
pictures, and none will get it exactly, but each will add threads and beads to
your tapestry that you might never have found inside your own head.

Go there

Even
better than looking at a photo is looking at the real thing. Many leading
authors will go to the places they are talking about (as well as talking to the
people who do what they're writing about, or even better, having experience of
doing it themselves - such as being a detective or being in war). If you have
the time, you should do this too. The power of allowing your senses to
experience the night forest / battleship / penthouse suite cannot be
overstated. Often it won't be practical, but if you get the chance, consider it
a great prize.